Babcock International Group plc is a British-based support services company specialising in managing complex assets and infrastructure in safety-critical and mission-critical environments. Although the company has civil contracts, its main business is with public bodies, particularly the UK
Ministry of DefenceThe Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
and
Network RailNetwork Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...
. The company has four operating divisions with overseas operations based in Africa, North America & Australia. It is a constituent of the
FTSE 250 IndexThe FTSE 250 Index is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions to and demotions from the index take place quarterly in March, June, September and December...
.
Foundation and development
Babcock International traces its history back to 1891 when the American Babcock & Wilcox Company formed a separately financed (capitalised at £250,000 initially) British company called Babcock & Wilcox Ltd. The initial board members of the British company included the renowned Scottish structural engineer Sir William Arrol and Andrew Stewart, of the
LanarkshireLanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...
based steel tubemakers A & J Stewart & Menzies, subsequently
Stewarts & LloydsStewarts & Lloyds was a steel tube manufacturer with its headquarters based at Corby, Northamptonshire, England. The company was created in 1903 by the amalgamation of two of the largest iron and steel makers in Britain, A. & J. Stewart & Menzies Ltd, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland and...
.
The UK Company's sphere of operation was defined as 'the world except for North America and Cuba' which was the reserve of the US Babcock & Wilcox. For a few years B&W boilers were built in the Singer Manufacturing Company's Kilbowie Works at
ClydebankClydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, Clydebank borders Dumbarton, the town with which it was combined to form West Dunbartonshire, as well as the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, and the Yoker and...
near
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Scotland. Isaac Singer was a significant shareholder in Babcock & Wilcox. In 1895 Babcock & Wilcox Ltd opened a new boilermaking works, based on the 33 acres (133,546.4 m²) site of the
PorterfieldPorterfield can refer to:* Ian Porterfield, a Scottish soccer coach* Lewis B. Porterfield, an American admiral* Robert Porterfield, founder of the Barter Theatre* Bob Porterfield, Major League Baseball pitcher...
Forge on the opposite side of the
River ClydeThe River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....
near
Renfrew-Local government:The town of Renfrew gave its name to a number of local government areas used at various times:*Renfrew a town to the west of Glasgow*Renfrewshire, the present unitary local council area in which Renfrew is situatated....
. The Renfrew Works grew to over 200 acre (0.809372 km²) by the 1960s. The workload expanded as a result of the two world wars and the supply of defence equipment became another major business area. During the 1940s the workforce at Renfrew peaked at approximately 10,000. In the 1960s the company became involved in the development of the UK's nuclear power stations.
In 1975 the core businesses were transferred into a new subsidiary named Babcock & Wilcox (Operations) Ltd.
In 1979 Babcock & Wilcox Ltd was renamed Babcock International Ltd. This company was floated on the stock exchange in 1982, becoming Babcock International PLC. Babcock & Wilcox (Operations) Ltd was renamed Babcock Power Ltd which subsequently became Babcock Energy Ltd. In 1987 Babcock merged with FKI Electricals plc, another engineering company to form FKI Babcock PLC. In February 1989 FKI Babcock PLC demerged to form Babcock International Group PLC and
FKI plcFKI is a British major engineering and manufacturing company headquartered in Loughborough, Leicestershire. For many years listed on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, but it was taken private by buyout firm Melrose in July 2008....
.
In 1995 a 75% stake in the boiler manufacturing and energy services activities (originally the core businesses of Babcock), by then known as Babcock Energy Ltd, were sold to Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding of Japan, and became Mitsui Babcock Energy Ltd. In 2006
Mitsuiis one of the largest corporate conglomerates in Japan and one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world.-History:Founded by Mitsui Takatoshi , who was the fourth son of a shopkeeper in Matsusaka, in what is now today's Mie prefecture...
sold the company to
Doosan Heavy Industries & ConstructionDoosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Doosan Group, is one of the largest Korean heavy industrial companies. It was established in 1962....
a subsidiary company of the
Doosan GroupDoosan Group is a South Korean conglomerate quoted on the Korea Stock Exchange. Doosan has been placed 471st in the Fortune 2009. It has been included in the Forbes Global 2000 companies from 2007. It had recently acquired SKODA power thus making it a full swing in power plant global competitors...
of South
KoreaKorea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
: at that time the UK company was renamed Doosan Babcock Energy Ltd. In 2009 the Czech-based steam turbine maker, Skoda Power, became part of Doosan Babcock Energy Ltd, the latter being renamed
Doosan Power Systems Ltdis involved in the building, maintenance and service of power plants. It was formerly known as Doosan Babcock Energy Ltd...
in 2010.
In 2000 Babcock took the strategic decision to move away from manufacturing towards maintaining and supporting the critical equipment and infrastructure of customers. In 2002 Babcock was reclassified on the
London Stock ExchangeThe London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
from Engineering to Support Services.
Recent years
On 19 June 2002 the Company acquired Service Group International Ltd, a provider of support services in defence and civil markets. It successfully bid for Peterhouse Group plc and on 18 June 2004 its bid was declared unconditional as over 50% of shares were held. On 30 September 2004 it acquired Turner and Partners, a provider of professional services to the telecoms industry. On 9 May 2006 it went on to acquire Alstec Group Ltd, a nuclear and airport services operator, and on 13 June 2006 it bought the high voltage power lines and mobile telecoms business of ABB South Africa (Pty). On 10 May 2007 19 million new shares were placed to fund acquisitions and on 28 June 2007 it acquired
Devonport Management LimitedDML was the company which owns and manages Devonport Royal Dockyard, the largest dockyard in Western Europe. DML was owned by Babcock International Group who purchased it from previous owners; KBR , Balfour Beatty and The Weir Group ....
, operators of the
Devonport DockyardHer Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...
nuclear submarine and surface vessel facilities and
Appledore Shipbuilders-History:The Appledore Yard was founded in 1855 on the estuary of the River Torridge. The Richmond Dry Dock was built in 1856 by William Yeo and named after Richmond Bay in Prince Edward Island, where the Yeo family's shipping fleet was based....
.
On 25 July 2007 the UK Government announced that the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, of which Babcock International is a part, would carry out final assembly of two new aircraft carriers for the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
at their
Rosyth DockyardRosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which primarily undertakes refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels.-History:...
. On 7 August 2007 acceptances for the acquisition of International Nuclear Solutions PLC reached 58.9% of issued share capital and a take-over was then completed. On the 22 April 2008 to further strengthen the brand in the Nuclear sector and submarine support sector, Babcock acquired
Strachan & HenshawStrachan & Henshaw was a major defence and nuclear engineering company based in Ashton Gate in Bristol.-History:The Company was founded by Robert Price Strachan & George Henshaw in 1879 as a partnership specialising in the manufacture of paper-bag making machinery operating from Lewin's Mead in...
from the
Weir GroupThe Weir Group plc is an engineering company headquartered in East Kilbride, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:...
for £65m. This purchase brought a company with over 50 years of experience in high integrity material handling.
In September 2009, Babcock acquired the
UK Atomic Energy AuthorityThe United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of nuclear fusion power. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and was formerly chaired by Lady Barbara Judge CBE...
's commercial arm, UKAEA Ltd. This extended Babcock’s existing nuclear skills, bringing additional expertise in waste categorisation, decommissioning of high hazard facilities, encapsulation and storage of hazardous materials and transportation of waste. The deal also provided Babcock with its first operational
Tier 1Tier 1 may refer to:*Tier 1 capital*Tier 1 network or Tier 1 carrier, an ISP which can connect to the entire Internet without paying transit fees*Scaled Composites Tier One, Scaled Composites' suborbital human spaceflight program...
position in the civil nuclear market and a direct relationship with the
Nuclear Decommissioning AuthorityThe Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom formed by the Energy Act 2004. It came into existence in late 2004, and took on its main functions on 1 April 2005...
, complementing its existing Tier 1 position in the military nuclear market.
In March 2010, Babcock announced a merger with
VT GroupVT Group plc was a British defence and services company, formerly known as Vosper Thornycroft. The Company had diversified from shipbuilding into various engineering and support services, becoming involved in many areas of provision through five main operating groups: VT Communications, VT...
for £1.32bn or 750p a share. Babcock offered 361.6p a share in cash, as well as 0.7 new Babcock shares for each VT Group share. The combined companies created a defence and support services group with sales of £3bn and more than 25,000 employees in Britain and the US. The merger was completed on 8 July 2010.
Operations
The Company is organised into the following divisions: Marine & Technology, Defence & Security, Support Services & International.